The BlackRock Brasil Gestora de Investimentos Ltd. unit
sold 4.9 million OGX shares in an exchange-traded fund, or ETF,
in the previous two trading days and now holds 30 million
shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on company
filings. BlackRock hold’s an additional 38 million shares
through other units, the data show. The shares sold were worth
3.3 million reais ($1.4 million) based on Aug. 14 prices.

OGX was removed from the MSCI Brazil Index Aug. 14, after a
slump that has seen the company’s shares lose 85 percent this
year, more than any other oil company worth at least $100
million. The company said July 1 that its only producing
oilfield may be closed next year and that it doesn’t have the
technological means to develop three other fields previously
declared viable. Five other Batista-founded companies also
tumbled as investors lost confidence in the tycoon.

Units of Banco Bradesco SA and Itau Unibanco Holding SA,
among Batista’s biggest local creditors, also sold OGX stock
last month. Bradesco Asset Management cut its holdings to 28.1
million shares after selling 21.4 million while Itau Unibanco
sold about 5 million shares to 64.4 million shares, according to
filings dated July 31.

Melissa Garville, a spokeswoman for BlackRock, declined to
comment. Spokespeople for Itau and Bradesco didn’t immediately
respond to requests for comment.

Batista is raising cash and selling pieces of his energy,
commodities and logistics companies after his estimated fortune
plummeted from $34.5 billion in March of last year to less than
$1 billion on missed production and profit targets. Last week,
he agreed to hand over control of his logistics company, LLX
Logistica SA, to EIG Global Energy Partners LLC.

In an opinion piece for Valor Economico newspaper last
month, Batista vowed to pay back those who had lent him money.